Sahar, 19, and his representatives met officials of the Dutch Premier League outfit twice last week and agreed personal terms, although Chelsea have yet to endorse the loan arrangement.

Ronen Katzav, Sahar’s new agent, is confident that the Israeli striker will be in Holland after the new year. “It’s important for Ben to be playing. He needs to step back a yard in order to move forward.”

The move will end a miserable six months for Sahar at Portsmouth in which he failed to make an appearance since arriving on loan from Chelsea. One Israeli newspaper recently made the cynical observation that “Sahar will be joining his fifth European club that he won’t be playing for”.